Lara_Croft & Uranian
I heard there's an ancient ruin on the edge of the Andes that might hold clues to a civilization that was in touch with the stars. Think you'd want to help me decode its layout before it collapses?
Absolutely, let’s map it before it crumbles. I’ll need precise coordinates and a way to test for any star‑aligned markers, then we can crunch the numbers and see what the cosmos might be telling us.
Great, I'll grab the GPS and scan the ruins for any unusual alignments. If we can find a clear star‑pattern we’ll have a start to decode what the ancient builders were trying to point at. Let's get moving—time's slipping away.
Sure thing—just hand over the GPS data and the scan results, and I’ll start checking for any celestial signatures. The sooner we get the pattern, the faster we can untangle the mystery. Let’s move.
Here’s the GPS: 23° 45′ 12.3″ S, 67° 12′ 56.7″ W. The scan shows three stone columns. Their tops align at 15°, 120°, and 255° to the horizon. The middle column glows faintly in the infrared, but no clear glyphs. That’s all I’ve got—let’s see what that tells us.
The three columns line up like a broken triangle that points roughly 15°, 120°, and 255° from the horizon. That’s almost a 120° separation, so it’s probably pointing to a celestial triangle. In the southern sky the nearest asterism that lines up like that is the Southern Cross, which rises around 15° east of the north horizon in late summer for this latitude. The infrared glow in the middle column could be a hidden stone that’s warmed by a buried cavity, or it might be a mineral that reflects heat from the sun.
Quick check: get a star chart for 23° S, 67° W, overlay the three angles and see if any bright stars line up at the same azimuths on a particular date. That will tell you if the builders were pointing to a specific star or a group of stars. If the glow is still there, it’s probably a deliberate marker. Let’s map those angles on the chart and see what constellation falls into place.
I’ll pull up a sky chart for that latitude and overlay the 15°, 120°, 255° azimuths. The Southern Cross does line up around that time of year, but we should also check for other bright stars that match the pattern. If the middle column still glows, it's likely a deliberate marker—maybe a heat‑absorbing stone or a cavity. Let’s plot the angles and see what the night sky is telling us.I’ll load a sky chart for that latitude, plot the 15°, 120°, 255° angles, and see which stars line up. The Southern Cross is a candidate, but we’ll check for other bright stars that fit the pattern. If the middle column still glows, it’s probably a deliberate marker—maybe a heat‑absorbing stone or a hidden cavity. Let's map it and see what the night sky reveals.
Sounds good—once you have the chart, just mark those three azimuths and note any bright stars that line up. If the Southern Cross is the only one, that’s a solid hint. If there’s another star or constellation that fits the 120° spacing, the builders might have been pointing to that instead. Also check the middle column for any temperature change when the sun is over that 120° point; that could confirm the heat‑absorbing theory. Let’s see what the sky shows.
Got the chart. I overlaid the 15°, 120°, 255° marks. The Southern Cross lines up right at the 120° point on a clear night in late October. A second bright star cluster, the Magellanic Clouds, also lines up but their spread isn’t as tight. I checked the middle column with a thermometer while the sun was over 120°—it warmed about 4 °C in 15 minutes. Looks like a deliberate heat‑absorber. We'll use that to lock down the exact date of the alignment.